Küstrin fortress

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Historical plan of the town of Küstrin and its fortifications, 1728
Plan of the town of Küstrin and its fortifications, 1921
View from Küstrin-Kietz to the fortress

The Küstrin Fortress was a fortress that was built in the second half of the 16th century to protect the royal seat of Küstrin . It was not until 1920 that its use as a fortress ended as a result of the lost First World War . Shortly afterwards, the demolition of the eastern city walls began. At the end of the Second World War , Küstrin was declared a fortress again in 1945 and the town was almost completely destroyed by the fighting by the end of March 1945 . After the end of the war, the fortress structures, which were already damaged, were further destroyed by blasting and demolition work for material extraction. The fortifications in the old town and Fort Gorgast have been restored since the 1990s , while the other external works are falling into disrepair due to vacancies. A large part of the fortress structures is on the right-hand side of the Odra in Kostrzyn nad Odrą , Poland , the remaining external works in the German municipality of Küstriner Vorland .

Before 1535: prehistory

The first mention of Küstrin dates back to 1232. Küstrin was strategically located at the confluence of Oder and Warta . There was probably a fortification at this point to protect the Oder crossing . 1323 ended the Askanierherrschaft and Küstrin moved to 1455 several times the owner. Then it was sold to Friedrich II of Brandenburg and thus belonged to the Hohenzollern family . In 1535 Johann von Brandenburg-Küstrin inherited Küstrin, among others, and made it his residence .

1535–1920: Fortress status

Johann began the expansion of his residence with the construction of the Küstrin Castle , which lasted from 1535 to 1537. Then construction work on the fortress began. The fortifications , which were built from 1537 to 1543, had earth walls that were repeatedly undermined by the floods . After several years of construction interruption, the walls were reinforced with masonry from 1553 to 1568 and the newly built areas were immediately made of masonry. The fortress was completed in 1568. At that time it comprised the bastions of King, Queen, Crown Prince, Crown Princess and Philip as well as the Berlin Gate and the Zorndorfer Gate as city ​​gates . Furthermore, there was the Kietzer gate and the mill gate for pedestrians. The fortress builders working in Küstrin in the 16th century included Francesco Chiaramella and, after him, Rochus Graf zu Lynar , to whom the walled bastions of the city fortifications can be ascribed.

Küstrin Castle, copper engraving by Merian around 1652

In the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf moved south up the Oder from July 1630 . By setting up a field fortification on the left bank of the Oder opposite Küstrin, he controlled the Oder crossing and shipping traffic. At the urging of the Swedes, Küstrin was handed over to Swedish administration in June 1631. Immediately afterwards, the Swedes began further expansion of the fortress, which was later continued by Elector Friedrich Wilhelm . Between 1631 and 1688 the bridgehead was built on the left side of the Odra, the hornworks and the Brandenburg bastion on the right bank of the Oder between the bastions König and Philipp. In addition, the defense of the eastern ramparts was reinforced by the construction of several Redans and the Ravelins Gohrin, Albrecht, August-Wilhelm and Christian Ludwig. The moat was closed with a batardeau at the Philipp bastion. Küstrin was now one of the strongest fortresses in Germany.

One of the prisoners was Aegidius Strauch II , whom the Elector Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg had captured in October 1675 by sea from Danzig to Hamburg and imprisoned in the fortress. As a Lutheran zealot against the Reformed Confession and alleged partisan of Sweden, he hated Strauch . The King of Poland, the King of Sweden, the Elector of Saxony, his relatives and many other supporters advocated Strauch's release. A delegation of citizens from Gdansk achieved his release on July 9, 1678. Tens of thousands of followers received him in Gdansk and all Lutheran churches held services for his liberation. The Danzig council reinstated him on September 8, 1678.

The Prussian lieutenant Hans Hermann von Katte was executed on November 6, 1730 in the Küstrin fortress on the orders of Friedrich Wilhelm I in front of the future Prussian King Friedrich II .

During the Seven Years' War, Russian troops besieged Küstrin from August 15 to 18, 1758. The mostly wooden town burned down completely without the fortress being conquered. King Friedrich II shocked the fortress and defeated the Russians on August 25, 1758 east of Küstrin in the battle of Zorndorf .

During the Fourth Coalition War in 1806 Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Ferdinand von Ingersleben surrendered Küstrin to the vastly inferior troops of Napoleon without a fight, apart from a brief battle at the western bridgehead and the destruction of the Oder Bridge . Ingersleben deserted , was sentenced to death in absentia in 1807 and not pardoned by the king as in other cases. Until 1814, Küstrin was occupied by the French, who expanded the fortress. After Napoleon's defeat in the Russian campaign in 1812 , at the beginning of the wars of liberation in March 1813, Küstrin was first bombarded by Russian troops. The French burned the Lange and Kurz Vorstadt and the Kietz on the Oderinsel for strategic reasons. Since the fortress could not be stormed, they blocked Russian and later Prussian troops until the surrender in March 1814.

In the 19th century, the fortress was expanded again in order to protect it against the artillery that extended further . The bridgehead on the Oder Island was expanded and supplemented with two flanking bezels . From 1850 to 1862 the lunettes B were erected on the Oder island and the lunettes C and D on the left side of the Oder. In the years 1863 to 1872 the independent fort "Neues Werk" was built at the Küstrin-Neustadt train station (today's Kostrzyn train station).

In 1877/78 the gatehouses at the Berliner and Zorndorfer Tor were demolished and a new city ​​gate with a double passage was built. At the same time, the powder towers were removed and replaced by powder magazines outside the city. The road bridges and the railway bridges over the Oder and Warthe were secured by log houses . The completion of construction of the building of the four outside made forts , as Biehlersches unit Fort : Fort Gorgast and Fort anger village (1882 in Sarbinowo ), Fort Säpzig (1887, at Žabice ) and Fort Chernov (1882-1885, at Czarnów ). However, these forts were already militarily outdated when they were completed due to the explosive grenade crisis , because on the one hand they could not withstand direct fire and the range of the artillery was so wide that direct fire on Küstrin would have been possible. Outside the city, a few smaller shelters were built shortly before the First World War in order to be able to deploy the troops flexibly in the event of a defense.

The fortifications hindered the city's development significantly. At the end of the 19th century, however, the systems became more permeable. The Küstriner gate was replaced in 1887 by the much wider Küstriner gate, through which carts could now drive. Around 1901, the removal of the Oder walls at the castle began. Even before the First World War there were plans to demolish the ramparts. This could only be implemented years later.

Its use as a fortress ended in 1920 when, by order of the Inter-Allied Military Control Commission, the cannons and weapons stationed had to be withdrawn. Küstrin lost its importance as a garrison due to the personnel restrictions of the Reichswehr .

From 1920: attempted coup, fortress in World War II and subsequent use

In the interwar period , the fortifications on the east side of the old town were demolished, initially in 1921 the Zorndorfer Tor and the Crown Princess bastion, from 1925 the Queen bastion and the Albrecht Gate. At the same time the trenches were filled in so that a new road (today's DK 22 ) could be led around the old town. After 1929, the green areas of the Kattewall were built on the ramparts on the banks of the Oder. The Casemate Museum was opened in Bastion Philipp. From 1930 to 1931 the Crown Prince bastion - also known as the High Cavalier - was demolished. Some of the external works were rented out and used by traders, among others.

In 1923 there was an attempted coup, which was known as Küstriner Pusch .

Adolf Hitler declared Küstrin on 25 or 26 January 1945 at the end of World War II , the fortress to the advance of the Red Army in Berlin unstoppable. A few days later he appointed Heinz Reinefarth , a fanatical police officer, "fortress commander". At the end of their Vistula-Oder operation , Soviet troops reached the Oder near Küstrin in early February 1945 and formed bridgeheads on the western bank. In the fighting that lasted until the end of March , Küstrin was almost completely destroyed. On April 16, 1945, the bridgehead at Küstrin became the most important starting point of the Soviet army in the offensive on Berlin .

The greater part of Küstrin (formerly located on both sides of the Oder) was annexed to Poland after the end of the Second World War in 1945, while the part of the city area west of the Oder today belongs to the Brandenburg municipality of Küstriner Vorland as the district of Küstrin-Kietz (→ West displacement of Poland ). After the end of the war, Russian troops made the outer forts militarily unusable by partially blowing them up. Other areas such as B. the New Fort were completely or partially demolished for the extraction of building materials. The Fort Gorgast later by the National People's Army used as a warehouse.

After 1989 it became possible to use some fortress structures for tourism. The desolation of the old town and with it the existing walling on the banks of the Oder between the Berliner Tor and the Küstriner Tor are accessible again. The Fort Gorgast can also be visited. The other structures are ruins .

List of structures

object State (2014) location image
Bastion king with casemates In need of renovation location KostrzynNadOdra 09-2017 img4.jpg
Bridge guard of the Oderbrücke on the Ostbahn Tore off location
Bridge guard of the road bridge over the Oder Tore off location
Hornwork with two bastions Moat and wall remains preserved location PL Hornwerk 2015.JPG
Ravelin Gohrin Moat and wall remains preserved location PL Ravelin Gohrin 2015.JPG
Ravelin Albrecht with Albrecht Gate Left flank of the Ravelin preserved and renovated location PL Ravelin Albrecht 2015.JPG
Berlin Gate Renovated location Fortress Küstrin (old town) - Berliner Tor.jpg
Bastion queen Tore off location
Ravelin Chrystian-Ludwig Tore off location
Bastion Crown Prince / High Cavalier Tore off location
Zorndorfer Tor Tore off location
Bastion Crown Princess Tore off location
Ravelin August-Wilhelm Receive location PL Ravelin August-Wilhelm 2015.JPG
Kietzer Gate Renovated location PL Küstrin Kietzer Tor.JPG
Bastion Philipp with fortress museum in the casemates (as of 2018) Renovated location PL Küstrin Bastion Philipp 2013.JPG
Batardeau Renovated location PL Batardeau 2015.JPG
Brandenburg Bastion Renovated location PL Bastion Brandenburg 2015.JPG
Bridge guard Warthebrücke of the Ostbahn Tore off location
Warthebrücke bridge guard on the Breslauer Bahn Tore off location
Fort Gorgast Partly renovated location Fort Gorgast-AT.jpg
Fort Zorndorf ruin location Sarbinowo fort.jpg
Fort Chernov ruin location
Fort Säpzig ruin location
Fort New work 95% demolished, remains of the glacis and the countercarp on Zorndorfer Chaussee exist location
Bridgehead with right and left bezel Tore off location
Bezel B ruin location
Bezel C demolished, remains of the valley wall present location D MOL Kuestrin-Kietz Luenette C.JPG
Steady rest D Moat and building remains exist location D Küstrin-Kietz bezel D.JPG

Governors and commanders

Governors

Commanders

literature

  • Wolfgang Armin Strauch: Extensive biography - Dr. Aegidius Strauch - prisoner of the Elector of Brandenburg. tredition GmbH, ISBN 978-3-7469-3407-5 .
  • Cüstrin. In: Brockhaus' Konversationslexikon. 14th edition. FA Brockhaus, Leipzig / Berlin / Vienna 1894–1896.
  • Ralf Juon: Küstrin 1232-1932. Pictures from the past and present of an old Brandenburg fortress. Trowitzsch, Frankfurt (Oder) / Berlin 1932.
  • Wolfgang Scharfe: Fortifications in Brandenburg - Küstrin, Peitz, Spandau. Series title: (= Historical hand atlas of Brandenburg and Berlin; Nachtr., H. 4 publications of the Historical Commission of Berlin). de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1980, ISBN 3-11-007965-8 .
  • Werner Melzheimer: The fortress and garrison Küstrin. Möller, Berlin 1989.
  • Daniel Burger : The state fortresses of the Hohenzollern in Franconia and Brandenburg in the age of the Renaissance (= series of publications on Bavarian state history, volume 128), Munich 2000.
  • Ralf Gebuhr (Ed.): From Vestungen. The Brandenburg-Prussian fortresses Spandau - Peitz - Küstrin. Spandau City History Museum, Berlin 2001.
  • Frank Lammers: Küstrin: City history and city traffic. Society for Transport Policy and Railways, Berlin 2005.
  • Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Ed.): The fortress plans of the Prussian War Ministry. (Finding aid of the Secret State Archives). 2008, DNB 987783831 , pp. 638-665.
  • Daniel Burger: The castles in the Renaissance fortresses of the Electors and Margraves of Brandenburg. In: Stefan Breitling / Christof Krauskopf / Franz Schopper (eds.): Burgenlandschaft Brandenburg (= Berlin Contributions to Building Research and Monument Preservation, Volume 10), Petersberg 2013, pp. 164–181.
  • Gerd-Ulrich Herrmann : Fortress Küstrin 1945 claim and reality. The story of a fortress. Helios, Aachen 2015, ISBN 978-3-86933-130-0 .

cards

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Großer Generalstab (Ed.): 1806. The Prussian officer corps and the investigation of the war events. Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1906, p. 49f., 268–277, especially on Ingersleben p. 273.
  2. ↑ Fritz Kohlase: Küstrin demise in 1945
  3. ↑ Fritz Kohlase: Küstrin demise in 1945
  4. ↑ Peter Westrup: Is nature cruel or merciful? Küstrin was a splendid fortress town until it sank into smoking ruins in the spring of 1945. Today its ruins lie like a forgotten Pompeii under grass and underbrush. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. August 20, 2015, p. R5.
  5. ↑ FAZ.net / Peter Carstens: In the ruins of Küstrin.

Web links

Commons : Kostrzyn nad Odrą Fortress  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files